Amina Hassan in Abuja
Ahead of the 2027 general election, a group, Tinubu Must Stay Movement (TMS), has defended President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms amid persistent economic hardship in the country, urging Nigerians to focus on their projected long-term benefits.
The group’s Director-General, Marcel Ngogbehei, while addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, argued that abandoning the reforms without fixing the country’s longstanding economic challenges could leave future generations worse off.
Ngogbehei, who likened the situation to a family making sacrifices to secure its future, said Nigerians should be willing to make adjustments for the sake of their children.
He acknowledged the difficulties facing households, saying public debate should focus on the merits of government policies and possible alternatives rather than personal attacks. The director-general challenged critics to explain how they would have handled the country’s economic challenges differently.
Ngogbehei said: “Would you prefer to eat everything you have now, not caring what happens to your kids in the future? We cannot run it by propaganda, we cannot run it by lies.”
Also, the National Coordinator of the group, Ibrahim Uba, reeled out what he described as progress recorded by the administration across sectors, including economy, education, agriculture, security and infrastructure.
He noted that the economy had grown by about 4.43 per cent and claimed food prices had fallen.
Uba cited 1.5 million approvals by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), a reported N500 billion allocation to the Bank of Agriculture to support farmers, and the absence of strikes in tertiary institutions since President Tinubu assumed office.
He further pointed to the procurement of military equipment, deployment of digital systems for security agencies and ongoing road projects as evidence of progress.
Uba urged journalists to independently investigate the government’s programmes and examine how the interventions were being implemented.